A Journey to Remember: 2nd Day of Sun, Sand and Seafood

I set my alarm for 5am.

I was dreaming at that juncture – I was in a library studying and a mobile phone kept on ringing till kingdom comes. I was cursing and swearing who the heck’s phone was it? Later, I realized it was actually my alarm ringing and I woke up to off it frantically.

I didn’t want to wake up the rest. I unzipped my sleeping bag, grabbed my clothes and headed to the bathroom. I washed up and got ready.

Gees….it was cold that morning. I added on a cardigan to cover myself up to keep warm before I opened the main door. I walked out to the beach. I wanted to catch sunrise. I walked to the pool side, looked up, the sky was still dark. No sign of the sun yet, so I walked around and took some photos of the pool area.

Pool side view

So, I waited and waited, ate and ate while waiting….

6am, still no sign of the sun. Not even a streak of orange on the sky.

Gosh, time passes to slow when one is waiting for something. I waited till 6.30am, and still there is no sign of it. I looked further and saw the sky on the other side of the sea (being blocked by an island) was a little bright.

Here was what I ate while waiting…..

I was disappointed that morning as I failed to watch sunrise. I packed up my stuff and walked back to the room. The room was still dark. I quickly crawled back to my sleeping bag and zipped it up. I went back to dreamland.

At about 9am, I heard some noise. People were talking and I could smell someone was steaming sausages (hush hush, don’t let the resort know we did that). I rubbed my eyes and looked through the squinted eyes, wah….breakfast was in the process!

I woke up and freshen up. Still in my pyjamas, I took up a slice of wholemeal bread and spread some margarine on it. Used the fork to pick up a sausage and I started indulging in it…..yum yum…

We watched some TV while waiting for the food to digest. Later, we changed into our swim suit and hopped into the pool again! It was time to work out our appetite for lunch.

Kemaman. It was the place where we drove to for lunch. We went for the famous local food – stuffed crab. This restaurant where we had lunch served better food with reasonable price. It was only RM 6.50 for each stuffed crab.

Stuffed crabs looking at me..

Here are the dishes we had that afternoon.

Sambal prawns with petai

Pork Curry

Tofu with crab meat

I made a quick pit stop (before collecting my car) at the river bank to take some photos. I never let an opportunity go pass me…hehhehe….the view is just breathtaking, even though the sun was burning hot.

By the river bank

After lunch, we took a slow drive back. On the way, I stopped by the petrol kiosk to give my car some energizer dosage too. The attendant tried to make conversation with me while I was waiting for the tank to be filled. He asked me if I was traveling with my friends or family, where am I from…bla bla bla….of course, I have him deceiving answers to his questions.

While enjoying the drive back to the hotel, we spotted some stalls selling Keropok Lekor.

I stopped my car.

My trusty black car who broughts us around...

We stopped by and bought some back. While waiting for the keropok to be cooked (local Malay fried fish crackers), I checked out the stall and its’ surrounding. They used woods to keep the fire burning for the stove and it was rather traditional of them to do that, instead of using gas.

Preparation time

The chilli sauce to go with it

Waiting to be in the wok

These are steamed and can be brought home to fry

Raw keropok waiting to be fried

Dried fish

Keropok...

The lady owner of the stall

It was evening time again. How time flies when you are having fun! All of us changed into our swimsuits and swimming trunks. It was time to hit the beach and pool again! I went to the beach for some shots and also to practice on my drawing skills.

Pose pose...

A gust of sea breeze....

Washing my feet...

I made my presence loud and clear

This was what I drew.

A friend of mine caught a few hermit crabs and I had joy looking at them, through the transparent bottle. The little ones brought back sweet memories….and they were flooding my mind….(I was once known as the crab killer - because I didn't want to let it back to the sea. I brought it back to KL and it passed away after a few days...*sob sob*)

Aren't they adorable?

I didn’t feel like swimming, so instead I went ‘roasting’ myself under the evening sun by the pool side with my sunnies and hat on. I wanted to take a nap but failed to.

We didn’t go out for dinner that night, we had in house dinner and later we lepaked at the lounge area. We enjoyed a few songs performed by the band and of course some happy juice before we called it a night. I didn’t get to play pool or snooker because they were in the midst of changing the tokens. Sigh…..